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  • Subject: Halo Fanfic: Path of Reclamation
Subject: Halo Fanfic: Path of Reclamation
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Ah cool. It would be nice to see them in the game. Maybe after H3 I will finally break down and get online.. LOL. And DL is fine too! Honestly I should have just registered under that name to begin with, but then again that would have made sense.. heh. Man I have been having the biggest case of writer's block here lately, but am hoping to come out of it soon.

  • 07.12.2007 6:37 AM PDT
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Bender, you should get online now. You are missing out. It is too much fun.

Soulguard, how close was the Queen and her fleet to Earth when the High Elder found her?

  • 07.12.2007 6:59 AM PDT

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by my calculations... which suck... I would say they are in the furthest point away from the nearest Halo installation. I took the Seed ship roughly two days (slip space) to arrive their, but you must remember that the Seed Ship is using forerunner technology, making it one of the fastest ships in the galaxy.

If you draw a straight line, staring from Earth, passing Dorenth's remains, then Halo 7, you would eventually reach the Quarantine Station. Basically, if installation 7 were to fire, the Quarentine station would be just beyond the firing range... roughly 25,000+ light years. Just beyond the Halo affective pulse, and on the edge of forerunner space, specifically the Quarantine station was placed on the edge of the galaxy so that the sentinels could, if necessary, prevent the Flood from escaping the galaxy if Halo failed to fire. They would guard the last of the Halos, seven, and if the Ark failed to activate the firing sequence, then the Sentinels would destroy anything that attempted to leave the galaxy. They will place the Forerunner controlled space into an active quarantine zone and prevent the flood from escaping, hopefully protecting the rest of the universe.

More will be explained when we get back to the Queen's story.
~soulgaurd

edit: odd, where did fred's post go???

[Edited on 07.12.2007 8:21 AM PDT]

  • 07.12.2007 8:19 AM PDT
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WOW, that is a distance I can't fathom. That is odd, where did it go?

  • 07.12.2007 8:49 AM PDT
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I am a Sangheili Bard.
Tomes of the History of the Mirratord
For the honor of the Mirratord!

Fred is missing? Hmm. Sound the horn, men, we have a man overboard!

When is the next chapter?

~Aardvark

  • 07.12.2007 11:05 AM PDT

The Mirratord The Right Hand Of The High Council

Never judge a man till you've marched a mile in his boots! After that who cares? He's a mile away AND YOU'VE GOT HIS BOOTS!!!!

excellent chapter soul cant wait for the next one

you really should publish these books you'd be like a millionaire within a year

  • 07.12.2007 1:33 PM PDT
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you really should publish these books you'd be like a millionaire within a year

That is until Bungie's lawyers got a hold of him.. LOL

Although I have to admit if he got this published I would certailny buy it! :0)

  • 07.12.2007 4:17 PM PDT

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Posted by: bbender
you really should publish these books you'd be like a millionaire within a year

That is until Bungie's lawyers got a hold of him.. LOL

Although I have to admit if he got this published I would certailny buy it! :0)

>_>
<_<
I've honestly been thinking about offering Stand, Five Feet High to Bungie and see what they say about publishing it. IIWYH and PoR, not so much.
SFFH has more of a direct tie in with Halo 2, while IIWYH and PoR dip too far into the realm of fanfic theory. SFFH could actually sit on the book shelf at your local book store and not interfere with the existing HaloVerse, it would fit and not cause too much of a ripple in the halo waters. IIWYH and PoR would go too far off the deep end and not work well, no matter how hard I tried to make them flow well with Halo 2 and 3.

Who knows.

~soulguard

"The Grunts have a legend, a legend of a great leader that would rise and free them from the opression of the Covenant. During the incident on Delta Halo, one such leader stood before them and stood tall for his Grunt kin. Halo: Stand, Five Feet High is the story of what it trully means to be a grunt inside the might of the Covenant, and what it means to want to be treated as an equal."

  • 07.12.2007 4:58 PM PDT
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The worst they could say is no.. :)

  • 07.12.2007 5:37 PM PDT
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*All of the above is the opinion of the user: WartHogRacerman3. Complaints can be forwarded to his secretary.

I own an HDTV [12/30/07]

Man, waiting for the next chapter is like waiting for Halo 3 to be released. Also, soulguard, maybe MS could hire you (like Nylund) to write the next next Halo book.

[Edited on 07.12.2007 6:35 PM PDT]

  • 07.12.2007 6:30 PM PDT
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Posted by: WartHogRacerman3
Man, waiting for the next chapter is like waiting for Halo 3 to be released. Also, soulguard, maybe MS could hire you (like Nylund) to write the next next Halo book.


I would second that!!! I could image seeing me on the bookshelves!!! LOL

  • 07.12.2007 6:41 PM PDT
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Too late for the next halo book, but like Soulguard said, SFFH would go great as an addition to the existing Halo canon.

  • 07.12.2007 7:20 PM PDT
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Imagine of Soulguard was published, I would send him like 10 copies to be signed b/c it is that good.

Any update?

  • 07.13.2007 1:26 PM PDT
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Tic Toc - I am so hoping for an update today!!!!! It would make this Monday better than it is now.

  • 07.16.2007 10:10 AM PDT

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Timing is everything. I hope this makes your day.

update Level 15 is building up speed nicely. It will be a two fold level, but sorry no Queen this week. Instead the story will shift to one of the more emotional story points and that is the state of affairs in conjuncture with the grunts and the role the grunts will play in the forerunners' "Path of Reclamation". If you haven't picked up on my "subtle" hints yet, the Path of Reclamation is not simply the title of the book, it is the plan of the forerunners and the information it contains is stored within the Ark Data Node.

Now, as far as the grunts role in the forerunner plan... it is a rather dark one, and one that i've toiled with for several days. Basically, the Grunts are a pack society, Dietz sorta steered away from this in "the Flood" novel, but Bungie and Nylund seem to be sticking with it, and so am I. Because of this pack mentality, and their level of evolution, the grunts are keenly sensitive to each other. I would like to think that they are similar to highly evloved "wolves". Where a pack leader pretty much runs the show unless a bigger and badder wolf comes along. Elements of the next level will focus heavily on the joys of being a grunt and the pain the Covenant has caused them by assimilation. Fans of SFFH know that I love to bring in the "forgotten natural instincts" idea into the grunts mythos, because history and biology tells us that creatures tend to lose their natural instincts when kept in captivity. The grunts have been the slaves of the Covenant for a very long time, and thanks to Palab, some of these natural instincts are returning. And yes, this is one thing that the Prophets have feared.

But basically, we are going to see a lot of Mirratord grunt action and some deeper knowledge of Palab and his kin. And to quote Siren from the upcoming chapter: “I think we need to reevaluate the way we look at grunts.” And yeah, that's a direct quote from the next level. The other portion of the level will take a look at everyones favorite "In the wrong place at the wrong time with the best skills" character, Rose. She's been abscent for a while, but she's about to show her face, and I think you will all actually like what she's been up to. Love her or hate her, she is got the skillz to sway this war in the right direction. ;)

Stay tuned gang. I'm hoping to post this level on Wednesday.

~soulguard



[Edited on 07.16.2007 1:29 PM PDT]

  • 07.16.2007 1:27 PM PDT

|| Terminal Discussion.|| Where is Master Chief?|| Avatars and User Skins||

I hide my Gamertag because I don't want to play with you :).

"With great mustache, comes great responsibility"

i cant wait!

  • 07.16.2007 5:46 PM PDT

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Another quick announcement, and this will play out directly on with you guys help. So once I upload tomorrow's level, I will need immediate feedback on wiether something plays out or goes away, into the dark recesses of my mind from which the came. Once you read the story, you will understand.... it is sudden, shocking, and simply crazy!! But I wanted to do something... unique. If it stays or goes is all up to you guys.

I will be sure to let you know what it is and why I'm sorta on the wall about it.

Tell tomorrow.
~soulguard

  • 07.17.2007 2:12 PM PDT

|| Terminal Discussion.|| Where is Master Chief?|| Avatars and User Skins||

I hide my Gamertag because I don't want to play with you :).

"With great mustache, comes great responsibility"

I will be waiting soulguard

  • 07.17.2007 2:20 PM PDT
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I can't wait. Hopefully it will be at like noonish!!!

  • 07.17.2007 9:29 PM PDT

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Notes: Well here is the next level. I have pretty much decided against using the questionable segment at the end, but I will include it for your reading entertainment.
***********************

Level 15: Those who linger on the edge of chaos…

Northern Camp Eden Brute supply camp
Central Egypt
November 8, 2552


“Reposition those plasma mortars!” A brute captain shouted as he frantically struggled to regain order within his confused camp. The human attack had left his forces dazed and confused, and his unit in complete disarray. “Regroup your teams and keep your eyes sharp for ground forces! If you were not so lazy we would have been ready for them.”

“Why did the humans attack, Captain?” A lowly foot soldier questioned.

The Captain looked at the brute with a quizzical gaze. “We are at war, you idiot! What else would they do?”

The soldier countered. “The humans have lost. It is only a matter of time before we crush them. Why are they still struggling to fight?”

“Ask a Hierarch you curious ape.” The captain chuckled. “Just be sure to kill those damned humans if they come back. Now get back to your post!” The captain roared across the camp and the brutes scattered to positions. With them followed several packs of grunts, all preparing to hunker down in case the humans dared to attack again.

Mixed into this chaos of confused soldiers, grunts and jackals were the Mirratord Grunts. Palab’s two teams had successfully entered the camp and were quietly making their way toward the ship’s gravity lift.

Palab waddled past a brute and bumped into another grunt. The young creature stumbled back from Palab’s larger size and looked at him curiously; sniffing him in an attempt to identify the large Unggoy.

“Who you pack?” The young grunt questioned. Palab remained silent, and glared deeply into the grunt’s eyes. His team began to motion around the grunt, surrounding him on all sides. If Palab gave the word, they would kill him quickly and quietly, but Palab did not want to spill another of his kin’s blood without warrant.

“Hey, me ask you question.” The young grunt continued. “Me not see you here before. You elder pack brother? Who you camp?”

Palab stepped closer, realizing that eventually a brute would over hear their conversation. He glared into the grunts eyes, threateningly. The young grunt began to tremble from his stare. It was not the approach or the hostile intent that had the young grunt panicked, not even Palab’s unique size bothered him. It was the depth of his stare. The young grunt could feel his eyes, peering beyond his own, looking deeper into his mind then any creature should.

He staggered back, lowered to the ground and shielded his eyes from Palab. His arms covered his head as he trembled in fear. “Me know you.” The grunt wept in Covenant tongue. “Me not want you see me like this.”

Palab spoke, but only in the traditional barks of the Unggoy language.“You follow the Jiralhanae in fear.” Palab softly whispered to the young grunt. “But I do not bow to no one.”

“You are a great leader.” The young grunt added in their traditional tongue, a language that the Covenant had long ignored and no longer chose to understand. The young grunt slowly returned his eyes to meet Palab’s. “Messiah…” The young grunt was cut off when his Brute commander kicked him to the side.

“Silence that infuriating racket, pest. Get back to your duties.” The young brute, in foot soldier armor, looked to the small pack of six grunts standing with the young grunt he had just kicked aside. His eyes could not ignore Palab’s unusually large size. “You must be the pack elder. Get your grunts back to work before I make an example of you.” The brute glared at Palab, but something unusual happened, Palab, a mere grunt, was staring back.

Palab had shed his fear of brutes and elites a long time ago, and his prior battles had given him an unusual amount of confidence. He didn’t care that the brute was nearly twice his height, and four times his weight, Palab only cared that he showed the brute who was really the more dominant warrior in the camp.

“Cast your eyes to the side, pest, before I remove them!” The brute roared. His words caught the attention of several other brutes and grunts alike. “You would dare glare at me?”

At that moment two thoughts crossed Palab’s mind; his mission, and showing the other grunts in the camp that they did not have to serve with the brutes. His mission, however, would have to be his priority. Swallowing his pride, Palab lowered his head and looked away from the brute. Attacking the brute would only cause unneeded attention; he couldn’t jeopardize the mission.

The brute laughed mockingly. “Wise choice.” He then kicked Palab, thinking the grunt would merely roll backwards and cower at his presence. However, Palab merely slid backwards, planted his hoof in the soft Eden top soil, and regained his balance. He snarled behind his methane mask as the brute glared at him curiously.

The brute walked away and huffed. “You have courage, Unggoy. But the next time you stand up to me, I will gut you and feed your entrails to the Kig-Yar.” The Brute walked off and the Mirratord grunts quickly raced to Palab’s side.

“Are you alright, mighty one?” One of his kin questioned in their language.

Palab looked up and nodded a sharp yes. “I am fine. Hurry, we need to get to the ship’s gravity lift.” The pack quickly began to shuffle deeper into the pack, but they were stopped when the young grunt jumped in their path.

“Wait! Let me join you. I wish to fight by your side.” Bruised and holding his arm, the young grunt’s eyes swelled with tears as he pleaded with Palab.

Palab thought back to the battle at the Dam, and how many grunts he had killed that day. Their blood stained his hands and his heart, as he could not convince them to understand that the brutes and Prophets were lying to them. They had all turned against him, attacking him without remorse or regret, believing that he was truly a fake Messiah. Palab had thought that all of his kin serving with the brutes had been completely brainwashed by the Covenant.

“Why do you wish to come with me? Didn’t the Jiralhanae tell you that I was fake?”

“The Jiralhanae lie to us. They say that the Messiah was not real and that we would all go on the Great Journey with the Covenant if we stay and fight for the Covenant. But many of them fear you. I’ve watched, and heard many rumors of a great Unggoy warrior that fights with the Sangheili and had spilled the blood of thousands of Brutes.”

Palab did a mental count, and he only recalled killing at most forty brutes in the war so far. The rumors of his deeds had spread like wildfire throughout his kin’s gossip circles; rumors that had been wildly exaggerated.

“I did not believe at first, but after seeing you here and seeing the wounds of combat upon your armor, I know that the rumors are true. You are the great leader of our dreams here to lead us home. The Jiralhanae talk as though you are the only Unggoy worthy enough of respect. Many of them are hunting for you, to see if the rumor is true, to fight you. I will never let them come near you. I will fight for you!” The young grunt stood in Palab’s shadow, reminding him of the hundreds of other grunts that had come to him asking to follow. Like all the young grunts under his leadership, Palab was humbled by his words, but he knew to look to the bigger picture. In order to be free, to truly free his kin from the clutches of a War that was not their own, Palab would need to untie their bond from the Covenant and the elites.

“Listen to me young one, gather all of the Unggoy that believe the way you do. Those who wish to free from the Brutes must leave this camp.” Palab turned to Migpap and Mitab. “Go with him and lead them past the human and Sangheili group. Tell the honorable human that these Unggoy will not fight for the Brutes…”

“Leave?” The young grunt questioned. “No, mighty one. I will fight, and so will the others. When the Jiralhanae took over the Covenant we followed them in ignorance, but once I tell the others that you are real… they will fight with you.”

Migpap stood tall at Palab’s side. “He’s right, Sir. We can use this to our advantage. I know you, sir, and I know that you would rather for them to leave the camp and not endanger themselves, but we all know the price of freedom. Like the Sangheili before, I am sure that the Jiralhanae use our kin as if they are worthless. The Sangheili may have a new respect for us, but we are still not free. To be free from tyrannical tyrants, we must use force.”

Palab looked to Migpap, his first disciple. “Our freedom can not come by peace. You know the truth as well as I do, Migpap. But we can not be free if we are all dead. I can not ask these young packs, who have barely understood the pain of this war, to take up arms so soon. But you are correct about using this to our advantage.”

Mitab kindly spoke up. “Sirs, we must hurry. I’m sure the honorable human is worried about the time.”

  • 07.18.2007 6:02 AM PDT

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Palab nodded to his Second. “Right. We have no choice. Spread the word amongst the Unggoy, and speak only in our native tongue. Tell them that if they wish to be free…” Palab lowered his head, fearing the very words he was about to speak. “… to be free, they must fight.” The young grunt happily waddled away to spread the word to the other grunts that wished to aid the Messiah. “Migpap, go to the honorable human, be cautious of who is watching you leave the camp, and tell him that my kin will help.”

Migpap added. “I understand. But you know that the honorable human will want to fight, to avenge his fallen pack member. The plan calls for us to be inside the ship when the battle begins. With our kin now on our side, he can not fight as aggressively. He will have to change his attack strategy.”

“The honorable human will understand. He is angry, but he is smart. We Unggoy out number the Jiralhanae six-to-one. When the fighting starts he will know what to do.”

Migpap nodded toward Palab, understanding his orders. He then looked at young Mitab. “Protect the mighty one.”

“With my life.” Mitab replied as Migpap slowly, but with hast, waddled toward the edge of camp.

Mitab and Palab looked to the members of the team and began to move toward the gravity lift. Mitab was Palab’s most skilled trainee. Unlike Migpap, who is nearly on an equal level of intelligence as Palab, Mitab was more of a combat specialist. He learned to hone the unique skills of the Unggoy much faster then any of Palab’s other trainees and quickly climbed the Mirratord ranks. Migpap will always be Palab’s most trusted advisor and second in command, but in battle it was often young Mitab that would stand closest to Palab combat level.

As the team of eleven grunts cautiously maneuvered deeper into the brute camps, Migpap cautiously exited the camp and maneuvered closer to the humans’ attack area. Migpap constantly checked to see if he was being followed. He used the ruins of northern Camp Eden’s desolate buildings and cityscape as his cover; ducking in and out of the empty buildings to mix his trail in case the jackals were trying to sniff him out. He then powered on his active camouflage and made his way toward Eric.

A few of the Marines at Eric’s side were astonished at seeing the tiny grunt emerge from nothing, jumping frantically away. Eric and Mathew held their position, unfazed. It was not the first time they had seen a highly trained Spec Ops grunt, one that was skilled enough to be adopted into the Mirrtord.

“Why aren’t you with Palab?” Eric questioned as he continued to gaze into the camp. “What’s taking so long?”

“Palab tell me, he say go to honorable human and say that Covenant Unggoy fight with us.”

“What?” Mathew muttered. “The grunts of the Covenant will fight with us?”

“Clever.” Eric smirked. “This might be easier then we thought.”

Migpap seemed shocked by Eric’s words. “Honorable human not mad?”

“Why would I be?”

“Me think you be angry about fallen pack female.”

Eric was silent for a moment and then knelt closer to Migpap. “Don’t worry about that. Get back into the camp and start organizing the rest of the grunts. When Palab gives the signal, my units will advance. We won’t fire from cover, we’ll do a full out charge. My forces will focus on the brutes, jackals and the drones.” Eric looked up to Simyaldee. “And so will the Elites. But if the grunts fire on us, we will have to fight back.”

Migpap followed Eric’s gaze and watched as Simyaldee gave a firm reply. Migpap quickly turned and raced back to the camp as the humans and elites revaluated their plans.

Deep inside the brute camp, Palab and Mitab’s teams quickly moved closer to the gravity lift. They scanned the area to see if they were being watched or if anything out of the ordinary was happening. The advantage to once being in the service to the Covenant was that they knew all of their basic protocols for deployment. With the speed of which the Covenant was deploying their forces, there had not been enough chance to standardize new protocols since the ejection of the elites.

They quickly climbed into the gravity lift, and new that anything could be waiting for them at the top. Normally it would be a deck supervisor and several work crews of jackals and grunts, but after the attack by the human ships, these groups would be deployed and only a skeleton crew would remain in the supply room.

The group of grunts landed on the deck of the forward supply gravity lift and scanned the room. Supply crates rested everywhere as several jackals and drones walked about. Palab nodded toward a few of his team to disperse as the drones looked at them from their perched positions. A jackal also noticed their arrival and began to make its way closer to them.

Mitab quickly ran an interference. “What you want, stupid Jackal?”

“You are not assigned to this deck.” The jackal chirped in the Covenant tongue. “Who are you? I do not know you?”

“Shut up. Me is where me ordered to be.” Mitab grumbled as he smacked his fist to the floor in frustration. All the while Palab waddled closer to a data node. He quickly opened a rarely used channel and walked away from the node. A surge of power rolled over the station, sparking as if it were about to explode, but this quickly faded. The jackal took notice that Palab was walking away from the station and he quickly sprinted toward him.

“You are not assigned to this deck.” The jackal repeated, using his limited knowledge of the Covenant’s basic language. “I know you. Sound alarm…” The jackal’s neck snapped before it could screech to any of the others in the room, but several drones easily noticed that he was killed. Palab pushed the deceased jackal to the side as he pulled up his plasma pistol.

His COM finally chirped on. “I need roughly two minutes before I can send the signal, Sergeant.” Siren said over the channel. “I’ve closed all communications traffic in this room so that the jackals and drones can’t report what’s happening in here.”

“Me understand.” Palab replied to the AI’s voice.

“You can speak to me in your traditional language if it is easier for you.” Siren warmly added.

“You can understand our language?” Palab questioned.

Siren easily replied to him using the grunt tongue. “While on the Seed ship I was able to access several language databases. So, yes, I can understand you.”

The drones dived toward Palab but were shot down by several plasma bolts at the side. The Mirratord grunts had dispersed into key defendable positions around the room. Jackals and drones were easily dealt with as Palab stood in the center of the room, without approach.

Siren marveled at the display. “Interesting tactics. Your team is well trained.” She watched as the grunts then policed the bodies, moving them out of view. They then ran to the doors into the gravity lift room and setup more defendable positions using the heavily armored ammo crates as a precaution against weapons fire. The more interesting aspect of this was that it appeared that no one was ordering them to do it. The grunts were working without Palab giving orders.

“Impressive.” Siren barked in the grunt language. “Did you plan this out already?”

Palab simply replied, “No. I am telling them what to do.”

“But you haven’t said … oh, now I see.” Siren began to notice Palab’s subtle yet simple head movements. He had recently found yet another ancestral quality which had been long forgotten by his kin; the pack communication. Palab’s unspoken orders were based on his every gesture. A finger nudge, eye movements, a squint, a head nod, or an arc of his head, was easily translated and understood by his kin. The Mirratord Grunts could read his every gesture and understood what needed to be done without speaking a word. Their ancestors could hunt in silence, using their head and body gestures to coordinate silent hunting parties. Again, Palab was using a natural resource to propel his kin toward working together.

Siren used the video feed of the deck to watch Palab closely, studding him and recording his incredible role as the true King of the Grunts. “Sergeant, hostile forces are approaching doors two and three. It’s another deployment team heading down to the planet. I still need a few moments to access the ships security lock downs.”

Without the security locks in place defending the room would be hard, even for the Mirratord Grunts. The plan needed to change. Palab looked to the two divided teams and with precise instruction with his hands and eyes, they all backed away from the doors and powered on their camouflage. Palab walked to the center of the room and knelt to the floor, in plain view of anyone who walked into the room. He folded his arms and legs and closed his eyes. He would be the bait.

“Sergeant what are you doing?” Siren questioned in an alarmed tone. The doors parted and the teams of brutes and jackals strolled onto the deck.

“Tell me when you have the doors locked.” Palab ruffled in his native tongue. He was aware that even if the brutes and jackals heard him, they would not understand.

“Ten more seconds until the I take over the security protocols[/i].” Siren nervously stated into Palab’s COM.

A brute looked around, snarled and then approached Palab. “Where is the supply teams?”

“five…”

He gripped Palab’s collar and held him in the air.

“three…”

“Do not try my…”

“one…”

“… patience.” The brute finished roaring.

Palab wrapped his legs around the brute’s arm and snarled. “Me, kill you!” It was time to hunt.

  • 07.18.2007 6:05 AM PDT

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Palab’s retractable elbow spikes shot outward and his long and powerful claws dug into the brute’s steel, vise-like, grip. The brute roared as he threw the grunt across the room. Palab tumbled in the air, and landed on all fours. He then vanished as his active cloak engulfed him.

Siren commented into Palab’s COM. “Security protocols have been taken over. The door is locked.”

Jackals began to shriek in pain as one by one they were being grabbed by hidden hands, vanishing into the remote corners of the room. Brute’s gave chase, attempting to see who would dare attack them, but all they found were the quivering and lifeless forms of the dead jackals; torn asunder by sharp claws. A brute examined the corpse of the last jackal closely as the other brutes lifted their weapons in defense.

He quickly turned to the others and shouted, “It is the Unggoy!”

“Yes!” The leader shouted as he licked the blood from his hand. “It seems we have been baited into a trap. Clever little Unggoys. Do they think they can kill us?” He laughed.

Another brute examined the door they had entered and attempted to contact the command deck with his ship wide COM. “The security door is sealed and COM channels are closed. I can not regain access.”

“What?”

“Wretched Unggoy could not have done this.”

“Show yourselves, traitors!” The brute leader roared as he fired his spiker rifle into random directions. He then dropped the spiker rifle and roared in agony as blood began to drip down his helmet, from his eyes. He gripped the powerful arms of one of the Mirratord Grunts that had jumped onto his back.

“You talk too much!” The grunt shouted gleefully as he dug his fingers deeper into the brute’s eyes. Mitab snarled from beneath his methane mask, took one claw out of the brute’s helmet and dug his fingers into the mighty brute’s jugular. The Brute gargled as he struggled to get the creature off of him, but his strength faded as blood splattered from his wound. He tumbled over and Mitab pulled the brute’s bloody helmet from his head. He uncloaked and threw the helmet at the other brutes, daringly.

One of the Brutes shouted, “It is the Unggoy King!”

“No, stupid brute! Me not King.”

“Brute?” He snapped back. “You speak the words of the vermin humans, now?”

Palab uncloaked behind the brutes. “Humans are nice to us. They understand we want to be free.” The group of brutes turned and looked at the large Unggoy that had silently flanked them. The all marveled at Palab’s battle hardened glare. His armor was dented and scratched from numerous conflicts and his elbow spikes extended outward slowly, mimicking his rising anger and aggression. “You looking for Unggoy King? You looking for me.”

A brave brute stepped forward, pulled off his helmet and chest armor, and quickly pulled out a long dagger. “I will kill the pathetic leader of the Unggoy and earn the Prophet’s favor! Face me warrior! I wish to taste your blood upon my teeth!” He lunged toward Palab, snarling the whole time. Palab rolled forward and then shifted to the side, avoiding the brute’s bladed weapon. Palab then jumped and spun in the air using his massive arms as counter weights, and jammed his elbow spike into the brute’s massive roaring mouth. His spike exited the back of the brute’s skull, and Palab pulled it free as the brute collapsed to the ground.

Palab looked up at the other Brutes as they all raised their weapons, not willing to attempt the last Brutes brave, or stupid, ploy. Spike and plasma rounds sailed around the allusive King as he and his team of Mirratord grunts attacked.

Siren watched through the camera, completely in awestruck. She had yet to witness Palab’s fighting style, and she had never seen a pack of grunts fight so ferociously. “I think we need to reevaluate the way we look at grunts.” She marveled.

Siren’s digital persona arose in the heart of the ships system; she had gained complete access. “But for now, I have a crew to kill.” She appeared in a massive space, floating about as digital packets of information sped past her. The area seemed to glow with the trademarked purple hue, almost as if a purple sun was rising in the distance, but this was simply the digital representation of her universe. She extended her arms as an unseen wind carried her upward, tossing her long flowing gown and blonde hair. She stopped and glanced downward at the inner network of the ship.

Siren’s eyes scanned thousands of packets of information every tenth of a second until she had determined everything she needed to know. She reached out with her hands, touched the communications channel and began to relay the signal to Eric.

“Chief, we’re in. Stand by.” Siren stated directly.

“Copy, Siren. Standing by.” Eric replied over the communications channel.

Siren now had complete control of the ship. It was her domain. She quickly deleted the pathetic AI that roam about the ship’s core, then began to expand her presence. She upload herself completely into the ship, save for only a backup that she would leave in Camp Eden’s care. Star charts opened up to her, and once again she could see the Covenant Battle-net. Truth’s forces were everywhere, on every corner of the world, and then she noticed something awkward.

There had been an unknown time event.

Time had been shifted. She could not find the source but it was there. She averted an exterior camera, examined the stars, moons and processed all the information. After compiling the data she sat in awe.

“How can my system clock be off by six days?” Siren sat in amazement. She couldn’t give time to studying the incident and chose to save the information for a later time. She quickly stored the information and transferred it to Doctor Halsey’s data pad to study.

Siren reached out, and began to scan the decks of the ship. The ship’s onboard computer, the Luminous Key, registered itself as The Hammer of God. Siren liked it. She liked it a lot. With her finger she touched the space before her, opening hundreds of video screen that she used to see the numerous brutes, jackals and drones around the ship. They were frantically attempting to open the doors to the rooms that they had been locked into. They had also resorted to using explosives to open the doors.

“You know, this reminds me so much of Port Said.” Siren laughed. But she had learned a lot since that encounter. She quickly began to scan the ship for grunts, and isolated them from the brutes as best she could. If brutes and grunts were together she would simply decrease the oxygen mixture in the room. The grunts methane re-breather would filter the air affectively, but the brutes would pass out in mere seconds from the lack of oxygen. She then focused on the rooms with brutes, jackals and drones alone. These creatures would not be so lucky.

“This is for you, Mel.” Siren opened the oxygen feed around the ship, save only the grunt occupied rooms. With the oxygen feed open she began to draw in more air from outside. She began to pump in the access stores of air into the rooms. She continued this until the pressure in the rooms began to increase. She turned the rooms into pressurized torture chambers. The Covenant forces began to grow cold, but would be crushed to death long before they realized the temperature was strange. She watched as one group of Brutes slowly began to collapse to their knees, they were getting heavy, not because of gravity but because of the immense weight of air being pushed upon them. But the brutes would never understand it. Siren could have done this quickly, but a part of her wanted to see them suffer slow deaths, yet she could not do it as slow as she would have liked. Some of the weaker brutes quickly collapsed as their bodies gave to the tremendous force being applied to them. Siren had to turn off the sound to the rooms, as the blood curling cries of agony begin to fill her ears. Though her act was immoral, she was not a blood thirsty killer. In one instance Siren watched as a young brute, which had not yet pulled on his armor, held his ribs as they were crushed by the air pressure. She could see the bone and muscles shifting beneath his skin. She looked away in revulsion.

Siren opened the COM. “Chief, you may begin operations.” She gave Eric the green light to attack the camps below the ship. She had done enough for one day, she thought. No creature should have died the way the Covenant forces had just been tortured, but when she looked back to the view screen she smiled. A few of the smarter Brutes had pulled on their space gear, and had been protected from the change in air pressure. “Killing the rest of you will be quite fun.” Siren wickedly glared at the few dozen Brutes that began to try and escape their tombs. She reached out with her left hand and touched an empty space which powered off the security doors. The brute’s easily opened their doors and began to freely examine their dead kin.

“Sergeant Palab.” Siren stated into the COM. “There were a few brutes that I waw unable to eliminate. Chief Raynord was correct that we needed to sneak you inside. I will guide you too them.”

“We understand, Siren.” Palab replied.

  • 07.18.2007 6:07 AM PDT

TWP - Assistant Director
Blade Runner: #00124A
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Siren’s smile faded as she watched the Mirratord grunts power on their camouflage. They then exited the gravity lift room and began to hunt down the surviving brutes. “They are regrouping near the landing deck.” She turned off the COM and let her emotions swell for a moment. She wanted to feel the anger of life, the frustration of not being able to help her sister, and more importantly she wanted to feel the revenge of watching the Brutes die. “Kill them, Palab. Kill them for Mel.”

- - - - - - - -

Ark Excavation site // Mombasa observatory
ONI Facility Bravo A-11092G: The Gatekeeper
November 9, 2552

“Damn it!” Rose fluttered as she tossed her torque wrench across the room. She kicked a folding chair and watched it collapse and slide across the floor. She placed her hands to her hips and glared at the floor while breathing deeply.

Major Rawlings stood at her side. “Get it right. Or we all die.”

Rose looked at her sternly from the corner of her eyes. “Do you think I honestly need you to tell me that? You should go back upstairs with Ackerson, because I don’t need you to stand here and tell me what I already know!”

The Major, not used to being ordered about, simply bit her lip and slowly walked away. She walked across the oil stained concrete of the mechanics bay, stepping around numerous vehicle parts and fully assembled ATV’s. She then stopped at the elevator door and waited for it to return.

As she waited she looked back across the room at Rose. Rose walked toward the bullet proof, triple layered window and waved into the room. The elevator door parted and the Major walked in.

Rose walked toward the side door of the massive room beyond the layered safety glass and watched as the green armor clad giant stepped out. Yet there was a unique difference in the MJOLNIR Mark VI. The helmet was a similar to the SPI armor helmets used by the Spartan III, a large golden shield covered her face from chin to the top of her head. It provided ample viewing angle and had an increased targeting scope. Her chest armor was augmented with an extra layer of armor, and increased sensor for multiple atmosphere and a combat knife.

Kelly sighed from behind her new helmet. “What happened?”

“The power output created a feedback.” Rose examined the setting on her datapad and walked around to Kelly’s back. She opened the access panel and examined the settings once again. “Are you hungry, do you need anything?”

“No, I’m fine. The Spartan III are new at this, so I will order them to take a twenty minute break. Though, I doubt they’ll take it.” Kelly turned her head slightly and looked over her shoulder, downward toward Rose. “You need to rest.”

“There’s no time.”

“I don’t want you to pass out or be unable to focus because you lack rest.” Kelly sternly added.

Rose stepped away from Kelly’s back. “I have Major Rawlings yelling in one ear, and you in the other. Now I remember why I preferred the company of men more then women.” Rose placed her tools on a table and rolled her head back, cracking the stiffness in her neck. “The EVA combination with your Mark VI is simply too old for the power settings we need. But I also don’t understand the output used by the Reclaimer Armor. It’s on a scale so far beyond my knowledge that I can’t make heads or tails of it.” Rose closed the panel and walked around Kelly. “The level it is reading would kill anyone who wore it. Not even your augmentations would be enough. You would literally be torn apart by the suit.”

Rose neared a bench and sat down. Kelly joined her. Rose ran her oil stained hands through her hair, unfazed and too tired to care, while she thought out the next steps. “The SPI armor’s gel layer is insufficient at protecting anyone from the energy charge used by the shield emitters. They aren’t grounded properly, but that can be easily fixed. The problem is the settings used by the Reclaimers. It’s not possible.”

“Why not?” Kelly questioned. “The suit obviously had it, and a human wore it, so logic states that it can be done.”

“Kelly, if you were to try the armor at the Reclaimers settings… you’d die; plain a simple. I made the power corrections to the Mark VI and set it to its maximum power output based on the information given to me. Anything higher than that would be beyond human ability.”

“We have no choice, Rose. You got me down here to in order to make it work, otherwise I could be fighting right now. You can do this. Go sleep on it. I’ll try another combination with the CQB variant while you rest. It has a higher charge rate with denser materials.”

“You can try, but the EVA variant is the only one that has the potential to channel the charge. The thing is, I never designed the Mark VI to have these variants. This project was approved without my knowledge.” Rose stood and staggered toward the garage office.

Kelly stood and began to walk toward the underground driving course used to test the numerous vehicles in the UNSC military, however now it was being used as an armor testing facility. “Perhaps we should contact the people who made the variants.”

“I thought about that as well, but the Major informed me that they were all dead. That’s the reason why I’m here and not them.”

Kelly opened the door to the monstrous cave and explosions and weapons fire sounded from inside. “You can do this, Rose. Get some rest, and call me when you are ready to start again.” Rose closed the door and curled up on a leather sofa, instantly falling asleep.

Kelly walked onto the hard cave ground and watched as the Spartan III ran about with live ammo fire drills, shooting targets and unmanned drones that floated bounced around the room. The drones were small football sized targets that were propelled by air jets. They were fast and hard to hit, but made for excellent target practice.

Kelly ignored the raging gunfire and picked up a box of supplies, inside were CQB, Close Quarters Combat, Mark VI Variant parts. She gripped the parts that she needed and carried them to a nearby room. She cautiously removed the EVA, Extra Vehicular Activity, variant parts and looked around the room. Inside were the stored remains of the Reclaimer armor. She examined the ancient Forerunner suit and wondered why it was giving Rose such a hard time to understand. Yet Kelly quickly understood why the process was so involved.

The Reclaimer armor was only a fraction of the weight of her Mark VI suit. It was more like a body suit with only a small amount of attachments. She could see that the Reclaimer armor was very streamlined, lightweight, and still far more powerful the Mark VI. Beside the Reclaimer suite was one of its gloves, resting on a small table and connected to several monitors. Kelly looked around the armor and found the other glove; it was the left hand. She removed her glove and quickly pulled it on. The fit was perfect but the suit was suffering from its age; she could barely move the fingers as they were age welded in place. She then felt a strange sensation on the back on her hand, on her palm and her finger tips. The glove was sticking small needles into her skin. The sensation was minor, but she could feel it, and then she began to feel the environment through the glove. It was as if she was not wearing anything at all. She attempted to close her hand but still had limited movement, the suit was simply beyond repair. But then it suddenly began to make since.

Kelly repacked the CQB armor and picked up the earlier discarded EVA parts. She then ran back outside while still wearing the Reclaimer glove. The Spartan III ceased fire as Kelly ran behind them and toward the exit to the garage. The questioned what had her so excited and they followed.

Kelly burst into the mechanics garage and sprinted to the office. She flung the door open, startling Rose awake. “What… what is it?

“That Reclaimer armor is not the full suit. It’s simply the body armor, like our Hydrostatic Gel Layer. That’s not the armor itself… just the body suit.”

Rose sat up and rubbed her eyes. “That can’t be. It’s putting off too much power.”

“No, it’s not putting off power, it absorbs it. It works similar to the Gel Layer and how it reuses body sweat to keep us cool, but that Reclaimer armor actually taps into …”

“..the power of the host. We know that much.” Rose added. “The problem is, how? And how can anyone put off that much power. The suit would kill anyone with enough power to channel it.”

“What if they were properly grounded? A perfect balance of power and displaced energy?” Kelly smiled.
“That would be insane.”

Kelly held up her left hand and showed it to Rose. “The moment I put the glove on, a felt tiny pins stick into my hand. I can’t felt the glove anymore. It is as if I’m not wearing anything.

Rose stood up in shock. “How did you get that on?”

Kelly seemed confused. “I put it on. It barely works and won’t move to well, but it fits.”

Rose crossed the tiny room and grabbed Kelly’s hand. “I had two people try to put it on, and their hands were too big. Your hand is nearly twice the size of mine and you could get it on. The Suite only responds to a Reclaimer… I’m so stupid!” Rose glared at the glove in complete shock, happily smiling as if she had been told a solution to an eternal puzzle. “The suit uses the body as a regulator.” Rose pulled away from Kelly and frantically pushed paper and around trying to find pencil.


At the door stood Kate G017, Greg G009 and Dave G021, the Spartan III. Kate stepped in and questioned. “Is everything okay, Sir?”

  • 07.18.2007 6:09 AM PDT

TWP - Assistant Director
Blade Runner: #00124A
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Kelly looked at Kate and shrugged. “I think I just helped Rose figure something out.”

Rose began to write down several notes and then picked up her data pad. She placed the reading sensor to Kelly’s armor and calculated the amount of energy being generated by the Mark VI suit. She then placed the monitor near the glove and the reading spiked.

“The glove is putting off more power then the suit.” Rose looked up at Kelly and smiled. “Please tell me how it feels?”

“Fine.”

Rose gleefully smiled as a joyful tear rolled down her face. “No pain? No discomfort?”

“No. Nothing. Like I said, it feels better then my own suit.”

Rose shouted in excitement and ran out of the room, pushing past the Spartans. She reached a box labeled ‘Songnim Special Warfare Center’ and entered a preset pass code which opened the box. Inside were several Mark VI parts, including two gel layers. Rose quickly unpacked the armor under suit and ran to a nearby table. She quickly began the delicate process of separating the gel layer stitching and welds, yet trying to maintain the pressurized gel inside.

“Kelly, I need you over here.” Rose stated. “Tell me exactly what you feel with that glove, from the moment you put it on, to the moment you take it off. And will somebody find Wesley!” She shouted across the room. “Tell him that I need Doctor Halsey!”

To be continued…
*************************
That was the official ending, but now, here is the alternate ending I had originally planned. This is craziness, and I added this in the midst of a writing storm. I do this a lot, but most of the time it ends up getting chopped as stuff like this does not serve well in the plot. I will explain why I added this after you've read it.


LEVEL 15 Alternate ending:

//error//unknown system event. Please stand by….
….
….
….
….
….Time_reallocation_exe.pl
….
….
….

A deep voice, aged and powerful, spoke into an unmoving wind. The world sat without motion, frozen in a state of time lock. Happily smiling and staring at the Gel layer of the Mark VI, Rose gleefully sat motionless.

The voice spoke. “How many of these creatures still cower in our wake?”

Another replied, softer, yet still the sound of power and age. “Enough. Enough to do with as we please.”

A third voice answered, a woman’s voice, young a comforting. “We should end this tiring game. They will find Halo’s key. They will find the Ark’s key. Then they will find us.”

The second voice replied. “And I warned you that we should have destroyed them all. There fate does not matter to me. We should do what we please, and then erase this galaxy from the stars.”

A figure shrouded beyond light, void of shape or substance, floated closer to Rose. “This one has potential. She has seen the tools of our children, and has not gone mad. She understands the idea of Quantum Mechanics.” The first voice stated as he floated around Rose’s frozen form. “Yet she is not a Reclaimer. Her blood was tainted, yet the key is not within her.”

“The humans have become far smarter then when you left them.” The female stated softly. “Science does not scare them. I believe the last you saw of them was the recreation of the Galaxy. They have come a long way since the dawn of their time.”

“We trifle with creatures we no longer understand.” The second voice iterated. “We left the Empire in their care, and now they stand at the brink of chaos. Where the was one enemy, now there is two.”

“Have you not been watching?” The first spoke. “Do they seem to cower, even at the sign of their impending doom? The flood approaches, yet they fight amongst each other. Gravemind stretches out his hand, even now, and yet these vermin sit by and throw stones at each other.”

The second voice laughed. “Stones? Hardly. Their weapons can kill us, yet they do not because they have yet to find us. And what fear do they have of the Flood, when the Flood have been kept under control? Their true enemy is themselves, and us. They will claim what we left behind.”

“You talk as if they will not accept us.” The female added. “Vermin, weak minded, or weak, it does not matter. We are their Gods, and they will bow before us.”

The second spoke directly to the female. “The Law Keeper has brought his armada to their home, the home we kept hidden, and the human still fight. We bred a race of warriors, both human and Sangheili. Though afraid, they will fight. If we step beyond the veil of time, they will kill us. They will not follow the Path.”

Brief silence and then a new voice spoke. “Gravemind was right.” Her voice was softer then the other female, quieter, and far more younger.

“How dare you speak his name in agreement!” The first voice boomed.

The second voice fumed. “We gave you consciousness, Cortana, do not test our patience. Gravemind is the enemy of us all.”

Cortana stepped beyond the veil of darkness and into the light. Her skin shined with the elegant beauty of a true human. Her short hair softly swept against her ears and she smiled at the sensation of gravity and flesh. She turned back to the void and stared at images that normal humans could not comprehend.

Cortana added. “Gravemind is the enemy created by you. And like any creature, he simply chooses to exist. Though in order to exist, he must feed and grow. You sacrificed much to gain very little.”

“So then your true nature shows.” The female stated. “How will you explain to your creator that you forced away the only hope your kind had? How will you stand before humanity, and tell them that you spoke death before the Gods who could have saved you.”

Cortana folded her arms in thought. “When I tell them who you really are, they probably won’t care. You fooled the Prime, but you won’t fool humanity. You’re all talk, bags of winds afraid of your own shadows. The Forerunners were greater then you, and so to is humanity. When the world ends, it won’t be you that we face, or have you forgotten that…”

“Do not speak it!” The three voices roared in unison. Cortana smiled.

“Then you haven’t forgotten. You are not Gods, you are merely individuals who achieved great enlightenment through technology. Congratulations, you’re immortal. It is a pity that immortality came with a price.” Cortana looked down at Rose and recalled all the information that she had learned from Siren. “I won’t tell them. None of them. Humanity isn’t ready to understand what you three have done. But I promise you, that if you interfere with the Path of Reclamation, either in good or evil, I promise you … I will kill you.”

The voice held their tongue, being silent as they slowly retracted from the laws of physical presence. Cortana walked out of the room and into the office where Rose was once sleeping as time slowly began to return. Object, air, time, all began to return to phase, and Cortana felt the pain of the transition. She curled into a ball as her body was ravaged by surges of shifting cells. Her body painfully began to serge with intense blue waves of electricity as she struggled to control her painful outcry.

\\...program terminated at source…\\

And suddenly it all ended. Cortana exhaled and collapsed into a ball of sweat.

Time had returned and Cortana was alive. Through a strange influx of time, and encountering an Ancient race that allegedly encouraged the Forerunners to expand, she had obtained life. Air filled her lungs as pain coursed through her body. Naked and prone on the floor, Cortana, in the shape of a twenty eight year old woman in the mirror image of a young Catherine Halsey, passed out on the cold concrete floor of the mechanics office.

“Did you hear that?” Kelly stated as she looked toward the office. “I thought I heard someone screaming.”

Rose stood from the table and approached the office door. She gripped the handle and slowly pushed it open.


So, the point behind this was that Cortana was going to be this behind the scenes immortal based mostly on the "Fragment" and "Seek the Path" story lines. She found the alleged "Gods" of creation, an advanced race of super beings who had gain such knowledge and technology that they affectively made themselves immortal by removing themselves from their flesh and becoming almost like ghosts. As you can see, they made her real and she was going to walk the Earth basically "helping" humanity to deal with the consequences of the Path of Reclamation, however she was going to use an alternate name "Carolyn Yeslah", and yes her last name is Halsey backwards.

It was bad, and I made the right choice in cutting it. But I thought I would share it with you all so you can see that sometimes we writers make huge mistakes, and that is why editing is a VERY good thing.

Comments are welcome.
~soulguard

[Edited on 07.18.2007 6:27 AM PDT]

  • 07.18.2007 6:24 AM PDT

|| Terminal Discussion.|| Where is Master Chief?|| Avatars and User Skins||

I hide my Gamertag because I don't want to play with you :).

"With great mustache, comes great responsibility"

I need more soulguard! One of the finest chapters ever!

  • 07.18.2007 6:57 AM PDT